So here’s a theory about what’s behind the ongoing lockdown violations by the very people pushing lockdowns. It might explain why all of the officials who keep getting caught doing this seem to come from the same political slant.

Last year, there was talk about /1

The idea of “luxury beliefs”. The idea behind this theory is that as the differentiation between the working and upper-middle class blurs in terms of lifestyle and material status symbols, people will find other avenues of demarcation.

One of those avenues is to inflate extreme-niche issues to gigantic importance and/or to profess belief in absurdities while denigrating those who aren’t part of your in-group (and elevating oneself by implication).

For those who are trying to come up in life, /3

operating in a rational manner is probably very important. But what better way to show that you are of a superior class than to not have to worry about whether or not your professed beliefs make any sense...and you get to shit on everyone else in the process! Win/win. So, /4

what does this have to do with COVID and lockdowns? To relate to the luxury beliefs theory, the point is that it is inherently desirable to do things which those below you in status may not do. And so Gavin Newsom and London Breed dine at the French Laundry. Bill /5